UCLA
TCU
UCLA Loses Close Battle to TCU, 3-1
March 08, 2015 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The No. 6 UCLA Bruins lost a close battle with the No. 7 TCU Horned Frogs, 3-1, on Saturday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
TCU's Alex Young (3-0) went eight innings, allowing one run and striking out nine to earn the victory. Senior Grant Watson (2-1) garnered the loss for UCLA, lasting six innings and allowing three runs, one earned. Riley Ferrell closed out the ninth inning to earn his fourth save of the season.
UCLA (11-3) manufactured the first run of the game, moving Kevin Kramer station-to-station to go up 1-0 on the Horned Frogs. Kramer began the bottom of the first inning with a stinging single up the middle. The junior shortstop then advanced to second on a balk and tagged up to reach third on a fly-out by Luke Persico. Kramer eventually reached home on a groundout to second base by Ty Moore to give the Bruins the early edge.
TCU (9-2) answered with a run of its own in the top of the fourth inning. With a runner on second and two outs, Evan Skoug doubled to left field to bring in the tying run.
The Horned Frogs then took the lead two innings later with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning. With a man on second and two outs, Darrell Miller Jr. was called for catcher's interference, allowing Skoug to reach base. The next batter, Elliot Barzilli, followed with a double off of the left field wall to bring both runners in to score and give TCU the 3-1 edge.
The Bruins were never able to bounce back, and eventually lost for the second night in a row. However, the UCLA bullpen proved formidable once again. Tucker Forbes threw a scoreless seventh inning, racking up two strikeouts and Grant Dyer pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings with four strikeouts in the defeat.
UCLA will close out the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic weekend with a cross-town match-up against the USC Trojans. The game will be played at Dodger Stadium at 3:30pm PT following the morning game of Vanderbilt versus TCU. Fans can still purchase tickets at Dodgers.com or day of game. Additionally, the game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks and live audio will be available on uclabruins.com.
Notes: Grant Watson picked off two runners tonight, bringing his season total to five. UCLA has scored in the first inning in seven of 14 games so far this year. Grant Dyer is now tied with David Berg for the most appearances this season (8).
